A former United Nations weapons inspector has accused the United States of deliberately provoking confrontations with Iraq, which, he says, was almost fully disarmed by 1995.

Scott Ritter says the United States undermined the work of UNSCOM, the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq, and used the issue to push Iraq towards conflict with the West.

Mr Ritter has been an outspoken critic of US policy towards Iraq since he resigned from UNSCOM in 1998.

Iraq is a defanged tiger

Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector

In his new documentary film, In Shifting Sands: The Truth About UNSCOM and the Disarming of Iraq, the UN and UNSCOM in particular are portrayed as American pawns in its dealings with Saddam Hussein.

Mr Ritter says his team was satisfied Iraq had destroyed 98% of its weapons by 1995.

But, he says, the US Government deliberately set new standards of disarmament criteria to maintain UN sanctions against Baghdad and justify bombing raids.

In the film, which was premiered at the United Nations, Mr Ritter said UNSCOM chief Richard Butler told his inspectors: "You have to provoke a confrontation...so the US can start bombing" before 15 March, a Muslim holy period.